Host a Yu-Gi-Oh birthday party this year and impress your friends.
Celebrate an upcoming birthday party with an exciting Yu-Gi-Oh theme. The Japanese manga has inspired an anime series, video games and a trading card game, so there is certainly not a shortage of sources from which to draw ideas for the party. Once you've chosen Yu-Gi-Oh elements you'd like to replicate at your party, think about creative, resourceful ways to execute your ideas to keep your budget low.
Invitations
Use eye-catching Yu-Gi-Oh-themed invitations to let your guests know about your party several weeks in advance; this will help to ensure everyone marks their calendars to remember the big day. Much of the Yu-Gi-Oh franchise revolves around the Duel Monsters card game, so decorate your invitations to look like Monster cards or Egyptian God cards. Use a sturdy piece of paper such as card stock to make your invitations, and then hand-draw the details to replicate a Yu-Gi-Oh trading card. If you aren't very artistic, trace images onto the invitations, or simply use stickers or other ready-made images. Use the space below the main image to fill in the important details about your party, including date, time and location.
Decorations
Decorate your party space to look like a scene out of Yu-Gi-Oh. Start out by focusing your color scheme on the blues, reds, yellows and purples seen in the franchise; use balloons and streamers to make these colors pop. Place special emphasis on the characters from the show by creating banners or murals with life-size anime replications. You could purchase these items, but if you are at all artistically inclined, use banner paper to free-draw the characters. Another option is to trace a willing person's outline and then decorate the resulting form to look like a Yu-Gi-Oh character. Have each party guest take a photograph with his favorite character on the way in.
Games and Activities
One no-brainer party activity is to set up a space or several stations for guests to play the Yu-Gi-Oh trading card game. Provide the materials to play the game, and then have a special tournament during the party. Another idea is to make up a Yu-Gi-Oh trivia game for the ultimate fan quiz challenge; split the guests up into teams to battle it out for the title of Trivia Master. Or, place a sticky note with the name of a Yu-Gi-Oh character on each guest's forehead, and then have each guest try to guess his character without looking at the sticky note.
Food
Serve Yu-Gi-Oh-inspired snacks, such as hard boiled or deviled "monster" eggs or trading card-shaped finger sandwiches decorated with condiments. To satisfy a sweet tooth, continue with the card game inspiration and use rectangular cookie cutters to make Yu-Gi-Oh trading card-themed sugar cookies; decorate these with frosting and candies to look like a real trading card. If you don't have time to roll out dough and bake cookies, go with a simple option like decorated graham crackers. And if you don't want to overdo it with the Yu-Gi-Oh replications, simply take your inspiration from Japanese cooking; serve foods such as sushi, soba noodles or teriyaki chicken skewers.
